‘When I say legacy media hates you, this is what I mean’: DeSantis’s Pushaw exposes NY Times

Using a side-by-side comparison of two tweets from the New York Times, Christina Pushaw, rapid response director for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, illustrated perfectly her reasons for believing that “the legacy media hates you.”

Pushaw presented first a screenshot of The Time’s Feb. 16 tweet which read, “After a train carrying toxic material derailed in Ohio this month, Right-wing commentators have been particularly critical of the response, using the crisis to sow distrust about government agencies and suggest that the damage could be irreparable.”

The linked headline read, “Chernobyl 2.0? Ohio Train Derailment Spurs Wild Speculation.”

Next to it, Pushaw placed a January 15 NYT tweet that stated, “Gas stoves have ignited a debate in Washington, as mounting evidence shows potential health risks, including a link to childhood asthma. You can mitigate the effects with a few simple steps.”

“Gas Stoves Are Tied to Health Concerns,” the headline screamed. “Here’s How to Lower Your Risk.”

“When I say ‘legacy media hates you,'” Pushaw wrote, “this is what I mean.”

“NY Times: Gas stoves are health risks,” she continued. “Also NY Times: Concerns about health risks from a train load of toxic chemicals burning for days = ‘wild speculation.'”

https://twitter.com/ChristinaPushaw/status/1626591766819520513?s=20

“When you use a gas stove, it emits poisonous gases called nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen dioxide, a respiratory irritant thought to trigger asthma (cars, boats and other machines also release these gases),” warned NYT’s journalist Dani Blum in January. “A study published last year found that families who use gas stoves in homes with poor ventilation, or without range hoods, can blow past the national standard for safe hourly outdoor exposure to nitrogen oxides within just a few minutes.”

In contrast, Stuart Thompson, reporting on the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, wrote:

A controlled burn of the toxic materials has filled the air and covered surface waters and soil with chemicals. Dead fish have floated in nearby creeks, and an unnerving aroma has lingered in the air.

But for many commentators from across the political spectrum, the speculation has gone far beyond known facts. Right-wing commentators have been particularly critical, using the crisis to sow distrust about government agencies and suggest that the damage could be irreparable.

As BizPac Review reported, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowed evacuated residents of East Palestine back into their homes just two days after setting a cocktail of deadly chemicals — including vinyl chloride, diethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyethylene, polyvinyl, and petroleum — on fire, producing what Tucker Carlson called a “toxic mushroom cloud rising thousands of feet” over the small farming community.

Despite the dead fish and chickens and complaints from residents of burning eyes and skin and difficulty breathing, the EPA declared everything was fine as they wandered through the town in hazmat suits.

Furthermore, the study used to start the gas stove panic was funded by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a dark money “green group” with “significant ties to the Chinese government,” BizPac Review reported.

The study fueled a Bloomberg article that claimed that a commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that the Biden administration was considering a nationwide ban on the appliances.

The Biden administration’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, spent had a private meeting with then-RMI CEO Jules Korenhorst in June 2021.

Coincidentally, following the release of the Bloomberg article, Granholm took to Twitter and proclaimed, “We can and must FIX this. Through [President Biden’s] Inflation Reduction Act, Americans will have greater access to Electric and Induction Cooktops: keeps pollution out of the home, cooks food faster, [and] helps families save money.”

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has all but ignored the environmental catastrophe in Ohio, preferring instead to brag about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and blame former President Donald Trump for the train derailment.

While Pushaw’s tweet makes a valid point, it would appear it isn’t just the legacy media who hates you.

Melissa Fine

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles